Statistical Narrative: Telling Compelling Stories with …

1 Copyright 2009 Stephen Few, Perceptual EdgePage 1 of 10 The information that s stored in our databases and spreadsheets cannot speak for itself. It has important Stories to tell and only we can give them a voice. Once we ve discovered the Stories , Telling them in an effective and Compelling manner requires skills that most of us have never learned. Statistical narrative that is, Telling the Stories that reside within quantitative information is essentially like storytelling of all types; it boils down to communication. Just as storytelling is communication of a particular type, storytelling that involves numbers is more specialized, but only slightly more complicated.

2 In this article, I would like to share my thoughts about Statistical narrative and some of the practices that bring quantitative Stories to life. In 2006, when Hans Rosling of spoke at the TED Conference, it was probably the first time that those in the audience ever felt like applauding after viewing a bubble plot. A bubble plot is fundamentally a scatterplot, but unlike a standard scatterplot, the data points vary in size to display a third quantitative variable beyond the two that are encoded by the positions of the points along the X axis (one variable) and the Y axis (the other variable).

3 Rosling s bubble plot exhibited one more feature that hadn t been seen until then: it was animated. The bubbles moved to show change through time. Why did people find Rosling s bubble plot more engaging than most? For two reasons, I believe: The story was important; it revealed facts that the audience could easily care about. The story was skillfully told in a way that the audience could Rosling is an all-star of Statistical narrative . He will always be recognized as an important pioneer. If you care about quantitative information and watch one of Rosling s presentations, you can t help but be inspired about the possibilities of Telling the Stories that live in your own data.

4 I suspect that Rosling, if questioned, would tell you that there is more to Telling Stories contained in numbers than using an animated bubble plot. Several skills are at play when Rosling makes a presentation. Some are basic skills of communication, which apply to communication of all types. Some apply specifically to Statistical Stories . Beyond those that show up in Rosling s presentation, other principles and practices can be added to the mix to drive our messages Media of Statistical NarrativeStories can be told in different ways involving various media.

5 Even when words alone are used, those words can be spoken or written. When spoken, they can be spoken live while standing in front of an audience or they can be recorded and later heard via the radio, a CD, a podcast, or the Web. Historically, words have usually been complemented by physical gestures and sometimes through the use of different voices. Once visual forms of communication arose, the spoken word could be complemented by pictures and diagrams. What was once scratched in the dirt and later drawn on a flipchart can now be projected on a large screen.

6 Once written language emerged, long before electronic communications, Stories could be distributed and preserved on portable surfaces such as paper. Today, with all manner of electronic media, the possibilities have grown, but essentially we are still Telling NarrativeTelling Compelling Stories with Numbers Stephen Few, Perceptual EdgeVisual Business Intelligence NewsletterJuly/August 2009 Today, with all manner of electronic media, the possibilities have grown, but essentially we are still Telling Stories . Copyright 2009 Stephen Few, Perceptual EdgePage 2 of 10In this article we ll talk about the primary media that carry Stories from the mind of the storyteller to the minds of the audience.

7 Let s break the various media into the following categories: Words may be spoken, written, or transmitted using some combination of both. When the spoken word is involved, Stories may be presented live or recorded for later listening, viewing, or both. Whether spoken or written, words may be complemented visually through pictures, diagrams, charts, etc. When recorded, Stories may be stored and transmitted in print or m making these distinctions because they sometimes have an effect on the way we tell our Stories . We usually cannot tell quantitative Stories with words or printed numbers alone; we must use pictures as well.

8 This is certainly true when our Stories involve quantitative patterns, trends, and exceptions. We ll next look at some of the principles and practices that make Statistical narrative effective. When these vary due to differences in media, I try to draw attention to this and Practices of Statistical NarrativeI m not attempting in this article to provide a comprehensive list of principles and practices for Statistical narrative . Although I ve thought about this a great deal, I feel as if I m still just learning how it works. I will suggest a limited list of principles and practices that I ve found to be effective.

9 I hope that many of you will respond with your own ideas and that, through collaboration, we can begin to build a set of practical guidelines that will help everyone who cares tell their Statistical Stories with greater believe that effective Statistical narratives tend to exhibit the following characteristics: Simple Seamless Informative True Contextual Familiar Concrete Personal Emotional Actionable SequentialSimpleThe story is more likely to take hold in the minds of our audience if we tell it simply. We must find the core of the message and then present it as simply as possible without any form of distraction.

10 Simplicity isn t always easy. We must think long and hard to discern the vital beating heart of what we want to say before beginning to craft our presentation. Once we have a clear vision, we must then find the simplest, clearest possible way to present it, both in terms of content and the means of expression. Copyright 2009 Stephen Few, Perceptual EdgePage 3 of 10We must simplify the content. Paul Grice, a philosopher of language, developed a series of conversational maxims rules for communicating to one another courteously and effectively.